Allocating and Funding Universal Service Obligations in a Competitive Network Market

We examine, in a network market open to competition, various mechanisms of allocating and funding ''universal service obligations'' among agents (rival operators and consumers). The obligations we consider are geographic ubiquity and non discrimination. We analyze, from both the efficiency and equity point of views, the respective advantages of a ''restricted-entry'' system (where the entrant is not allowed to serve high cost consumers) and the ''pay or play'' system at work for instance in Australia. We show that the pay or play regulation always dominates the restricted-entry regulation under ubiquity constraint alone. This result no longer holds when the regulator imposes also the non discrimination constraint.

A luminosity monitor for the Large Hadron Collider

The LHC luminosity will reach 1034 cm-2s-1 but special runs at 1028 cm-2 s-1 are foreseen. Thus a luminosity monitor must have a dynamic range of six orders of magnitude. A good tolerance to radiation is also required. A detector using both ionisation and secondary emission techniques has been studied in this context. Its design is based on monitors used previously at the CERN PS and SPS machines. Special attention was devoted to minimize leakage currents. Linearity in both Secondary Emission Counter (SEC) and Ionisation Chamber (IC) modes has been tested from ~104 incident particles to ~108 incident particles. SEC is linear above ~3 x 106 incident particles while IC is linear over the full studied range. However, because of the radiation environment at the LHC, the SEC mode is much preferred at high intensity. A solution actually foreseen is to switch from IC to SEC mode when the incident current on the monitor is ~10-13 A corresponding to an LHC luminosity of ~1031 cm-2 s-1

A luminosity monitor for LHC

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) under construction at CERN will give high luminosities to experiments covering six orders of magnitude from of 1028 cm-2s-1 to 1034 cm-2s-1. A new approach is needed to measure the LHC luminosity. This work reports the study of a LHC luminosity monitor based on the concept of Secondary Emission Chamber (SEC). The main request for such a detector is to cover the six orders of magnitude of the LHC luminosity range. Its precision is expected to be of the order of 2 %. The TOTEM collaboration proposes to calibrate the monitor at low luminosity. The construction of the detector based on the previous SECs developed years ago at CERN is presented. The performances of the new prototype are determined for incident currents between ~10-12 A and 10-13 A. The tests lead to conclude that at the LHC the SEC will be able to measure luminosity with a precision of 3 % within 1 s for luminosity above 1031 cm-2s-1. A conversion of the SEC into an Ionisation Chamber (IC) is proposed to cover the LHC low luminosity region. It is achieved by filling the SEC with argon at atmospheric pressure. The IC response is found to be linear with the foreseen precision over the full experimental range of intensity corresponding to currents between 10-15 A and 10-12 A. The linear continuity between the responses of the monitor in the SEC and the IC modes is observed. We propose to use, at the LHC, the detector in the IC mode at low luminosity and in the SEC mode at high luminosity with a switch in mode at a luminosity of ~ 1031 cm-2s-1

Questions à Anne Perrot, associée au cabinet MAPP

Dans la note du Conseil d’analyse économique « Économie numérique » que tu as rédigée avec N. Colin, A. Landier et P. Mohnen , quels étaient vos principaux constats et recommandations en matière d’innovation, de concurrence et d’emplois dans les secteurs de l’économie numérique ? Réponse : Dans cette note, nous nous sommes attachés à donner des pistes sur ce que devraient être, à notre sens, des politiques publiques adaptées à l’arrivée des nouveaux modèles d’affaires numériques. Ainsi, il no..

An Economic Approach to Article 82

This report argues in favour of an economics-based approach to Article 82, in a way similar to the reform of Article 81 and merger control. In particular, we support an effects-based rather than a form-based approach to competition policy. Such an approach focuses on the presence of anti-competitive effects that harm consumers, and is based on the examination of each specific case, based on sound economics and grounded on facts

An Economic Approach to Article 82 - Report by the European Advisory Group on Competition Policy

This report argues in favour of an economics-based approach to Article 82, in a way similar to the reform of Article 81 and merger control. In particular, we support an effects-based rather than a form-based approach to competition policy. Such an approach focuses on the presence of anti-competitive effects that harm consumers, and is based on the examination of each specific case, based on sound economics and grounded on facts.Competition Policy; Abuse of Market Power; Article 82

An Economic Approach to Article 82

This report argues in favour of an economics-based approach to Article 82, in a way similar to the reform of Article 81 and merger control. In particular, we support an effects-based rather than a form-based approach to competition policy. Such an approach focuses on the presence of anti-competitive effects that harm consumers, and is based on the examination of each specific case, based on sound economics and grounded on facts.competition policy; abuse of market power

Spontaneous hemorrhage of thymus and thymoma in adults

Spontaneous hemorrhage from the thymus is extremely rare. In adults, it may occur in patients without underlying coagulopathy and mimic aortic dissection. To the best of our knowledge, only three previous adult cases have been reported in the English literature. This report presents two additional adult patients who were admitted in our institution with different clinical presentations of spontaneous thymic hemorrhag